User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Review
... ...Holy shit. What's up my Shreks, it's DiamondMinerStudios here once again, and... wow. This one is insane. If you couldn't tell by the title, today I'm talking about Super Mario World 2 : Yoshi's Island, which I'll refer to as Yoshi's Island from now on. I have a lot to say about this one, so I'm not gonna waste any more time. For development history, all you need to know is that this game was originally planned to have Donkey Kong Country-style pre-rendered graphics, but Shigeru Miyamoto shot down the idea. Apparently, he said, "Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good." This sounds insulting (and it is), but Miyamoto said this because he was under a lot of pressure at the time. He later apologized for the statement, but I digress. After that, Yoshi's Island was released to massive success, and is still remembered fondly to this day. Today, I want to discuss my own thoughts on this game and find out whether or not I agree with the high praise it receives. Without further ado, let's get started. Story Yoshi's Island has a good story, as per usual for these platformers. The game starts out many years before the core Mario series takes place, back when Mario and Luigi were newborns. Obviously since it's an E for everyone game, they weren't born from.... well, you know... Instead, they were born in the sky from a cloud (I guess) and a delivery stork is bringing them to their house. Suddenly, the evil magikoopa named Kamek appears and attempts to steal the babies. He gets Luigi, but isn't fast enough to grab Mario, who falls out of the sky. Down on an island, Yoshi is minding his own business, when suddenly something falls onto his back - the baby Mario. Yoshi is puzzled, and finds out that there is another infant somewhere else because Mario had a piece of paper saying so. The bond between the brothers (say that fast five times) allows Mario to know where Luigi is, and Mario senses he's in danger. With that, Yoshi and his friends set out on a quest to rescue baby Luigi and the stork, but little do they know that Kamek's forces are searching the island for Mario. It's short and simple, yeah, but it gets the job done quite well. A special thing about this story is its presentation - it's actually pretty cutesy and charming. For this, the story of Yoshi's Island gets a thumbs up from me. Graphics This is the first section where I just have to sit back and say..... wow. For an SNES game (which had excellent graphics to begin with), this is absolutely impressive. It's mostly because Yoshi's Island uses an improved version of the SuperFX chip, the same graphics chip used to render rudimentary 3D polygons in Star Fox. It was impressive there, but Star Fox looks extremely dated by today's standards because of its dogshit framerate. Yoshi's Island, on the other hand, looks absolutely stunning and is visually engaging to this very day. First off, the graphics have in insane amount of depth and color to them, which really sells the game's "living painting" art direction. Secondly, the sprites are beautiful. There are tons of huge sprites in this game, and many of them don't even look pixelated at first glance. Even the smaller sprites like the enemies, Yoshi, and baby Mario look great and are nicely drawn. Third, the visual effects are stunning. Try to picture this - you've played tons of SNES games with 2D pixel graphics. They all look great, but then you play this game. There's plenty of 3D models, crazy scrolling effects, and advanced sprite rotation in Yoshi's Island, and they all look impressive (especially for 1995). The most notable ones are the bridges and rotating platforms in the fortresses, the boss fight inside the stomach of a frog enemy, and the raven boss at the end of world 5. While I still think Donkey Kong Country 2 looks better (mostly because I prefer its art direction), Yoshi's Island holds its own and is one of the best-looking games on the SNES. Soundtrack Yoshi's Island sounds just as good as it looks. Every song is catchy and memorable, and they do a great job of establishing atmosphere. The instrumentation is also something I like - the samples are intentionally low-quality, so the songs sound like an old silent movie score. However, one song in particular transcends this and turns into something you'd have to hear to believe - oh yeah, you know what I'm talking about . I'm still impressed with what Koji Kondo was able to do for this game. My favorite tracks include the flower garden theme, athletic theme, all of the boss themes, and the title theme. They're all great and fit the game perfectly. One thing I do have to say though - the songs are somewhat overused, which can lead to the soundtrack becoming a bit repetitive. Super Mario 64 had the same issue.... speaking of which, this game's invincibility theme was the basis for the Wing Cap theme. It's almost like they knew. Anyways, this doesn't impact my opinion on the quality of the soundtrack. It's still an amazing OST despite that one little issue. Gameplay Just like every other SNES game I've reviewed, Yoshi's Island is a 2D platformer. The objective is simple - reach the goal at the end of each level, and if it's a fortress, beat the boss at the end of the level. Overall, the level design of Yoshi's Island is extremely solid. The levels are in-depth and interesting, and have tons of cool setpieces. While it's not perfect (something I'll elaborate on in the Difficulty section), the overwhelming majority of the time, this game's levels are excellently designed. However, one slight flaw is the progression system and level length. Unlike Super Mario World, where you could find secret exits to skip levels you didn't like or to tighten up a run, this game uses the Donkey Kong Country system where you're required to finish every level to beat the game. To me, this system is a little too linear and constrictive, and it would be nice to be able to find alternative routes to skip the occasional level I don't like. However, it's not the worst thing ever and doesn't even come close to ruining the game. A bigger flaw is the length of the levels. A few are just right, but most are pretty long, even longer than most Sonic levels in fact. This, once again, does not ruin the game by any means. However, it does make a few of the levels feel like they drag on forever. Going back to the positives, the controls and mechanics of Yoshi's Island are just as solid as the level design. The controls feel natural and responsive, and are some of the best controls for a 2D platformer. However, they aren't perfect. I still think the main series Mario games, the DKC games, and the Sonic games have better controls, though. This is mostly because Yoshi's Island is a bit too floaty. This can make precise jumps very stressful, especially over bottomless pits. Thankfully, there is a mechanic which pretty much solves this problem - the flutter jump. This mechanic is Yoshi's trademark ability, and it works just as well as in other games. It really can be a live saver on the more precise platforming. Another great mechanic is the egg throwing. All you have to do is eat an enemy with the Y button, and then press down on the D-pad. You'll now have an egg. To throw it, you press A to aim, and then A again to throw it. You can freeze the reticle with L or R in order to more carefully aim. I think these mechanics are both great and they lead to some interesting level design. So yeah, Yoshi's Island is one of the most solidly-designed and enjoyable SNES games. That means it's more or less on the same level of challenge as the other games I've talked about, right? Given its cutesy aesthetic, this is more of a game meant for children, and is therefore an easier title, right? ....Well... Difficulty You know what they say - do not judge a book by its cover. Yoshi's Island may appear cute and charming with its painting aesthetic and wide color pallete, and looks to be one of those super easy "kiddie" games like the later Yoshi's Story, but this is not at all the case. But, before I discuss how balls-to-the-wall challenging this game is, I want to mention something that makes this otherwise very hard game very forgiving - the save feature. Instead of having to reach a certain point in a world to save, Yoshi's Island autosaves after you beat a level. This is one of my favorite things about this title and is the sole thing that prevents this game from being all that stressful. The worst that can happen is that you run out of lives and have to start the level over again from the beginning, but because of how saving works you'll never lose a significant amount of your progress. Ok, with that said.... time to discuss the difficulty. In stark contrast to its cutesy aesthetic, Yoshi's Island is tough as nails. It starts off relatively tame, allowing you to learn the mechanics, but by the end it gets absolutely sadistic. The levels overall get a bit shorter, but they start putting in insane jumps, tough enemies, and very challenging setpieces. Thankfully, while extremely hard, the game is also extremely fair. It offers a decent supply of extra lives and a majority of the challenges are based on very real difficulty. I honestly found the difficulty to be quite refreshing, because so many games I previously found pretty tough are now quite easy for me (ex. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, DKC1, DKC2, and the Sega Genesis Sonic games). A challenge that was hard but still fair is just what I wanted, and Yoshi's Island delivers. However, it's not perfect. On very rare occasions, the things they expect you to do are quite ridiculous. It's never as punishing as Super Mario Bros. : The Lost Levels, mind you, but some things almost reach that level (ha ha get it). In addition, sometimes the visibility and enemy placement are cheap. The worst sections in this regard are the autoscrollers - they scroll so slowly, and enemies are often placed just offscreen, so they "surprise motherfucker" you out of nowhere. This doesn't happen often, but it's annoying as hell when it does. Another issue with the game design is the fact that some levels feel like giant mazes. Most levels have a simple "get to the end" goal, but on semi-frequent occasions, you'll encounter what is known as a "Metroid Moment" : a roadblock that you have no idea what the fuck to do in order to progress. This is something that particularly annoys me in these games, and is the main reason I am not a fan of JRPGs. Yoshi's Island never gets as bad as any JRPG I've played in this regard, but it is still quite annoying when you spend more time then necessary trying to figure out a confusing puzzle. The caves, fortresses, and castles are the biggest offenders of this, often involving some arbitrary bullshit to progress. But, as irritating as this can get, it does not ruin the game. Nope, it doesn't even come close to doing that. It's just something I never see anyone else point out, so I thought I would. The bosses, on the other hand, are pretty good. They're all huge enemies that Kamek cast spells on. They're all fun and interesting to fight, and plenty are creative. They also bust out Mode 7 and the SuperFX chip hardcore for these, as I discussed earlier. I will admit, most are very easy, but that doesn't mean they're bad bosses. The final boss in particular is one of the most awesome boss fights ever.... aesthetically. The music is an intense heavy metal song and the visual of the giant Baby Bowser is something I'll never forget, but the fight is quite frustrating mechanically. You have to grab giant eggs that float in on balloons and throw them at Bowser, knocking him backwards. You have to hit him enough times so he dies before he can reach you. Sounds simple, right? Sure does, but pulling it off is INFURIATINGLY hard. For one, the game is very stingy with the eggs, only giving you one at a time. Second, the eggs never seem to want to hit their target, always going above or below Bowser's weak point. These two things prevent me from fully liking this boss, but I will say this - beating him is one of the most satisfying things you'll ever do. After all that hell you go through, seeing the giant Baby Bowser erupt into colorful explosions and fall from the sky is extremely cathartic. Overall, Yoshi's Island is very well-designed, challenging, and most importantly, fun. It may have some flaws that impact the experience, but they in no way make this game terrible. Conclusion What more can I say? This game is pretty damn good. Awesome graphics, a catchy soundtrack, interesting level design, great boss fights, and an overall sense of fun make this one of the best SNES games I've played so far. Despite some issues, they don't even come close to making this game anything short of good. I wouldn't call this one of my top favorite games ever, and I would call it slightly overrated, but that doesn't matter. If you haven't played this game yet, then what the hell are you doing? JUST PLAY IT FOR GOD'S SAKE! ...Whew. Ok, now that I'm calm again, it's time to wrap this up. This was one of the hardest games I've ever beaten, but I'll be damned if I said I didn't have a good time with it. As for what comes next, let's just say I'm not quite done with Mario yet. I still want to finish Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Land, and.... ugh.... Lost Levels. Those reviews will be.... interesting, to say the least. I also want to finish the other games included in Super Mario All-Stars. Aside from Mario, I still want to play the PS1 Crash Bandicoot games, both Pac-Man World games, the Ratchet & Clank games, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, the remake of Donkey Kong Country 3 on GBA, Super Castlevania IV, and Sonic Mega Collection. There's also plenty of others I don't want to play right now, like Banjo-Tooie, Earthworm Jim, Luigi's Mansion, Star Fox, Zelda Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, and a few other SNES, Genesis, and PS2 games I won't name because this conclusion is getting too long. Trust me, I will talk about all of them eventually, just not now. As for what exact game out of these I review next, your guess is as good as mine. See all of you next time, and thanks for reading. That is, if anyone even reads these... I'm lonely Category:Blog posts